Internet bands together to fight SOPA

The Proposed SOPA (Stop Online Privacy Act) bill would give the Department of Justice broader powers to fight piracy than may be necessary.

Logged On

It’s rare that the entire Internet community can agree on an issue, but in the last months it’s agreed that freedom of speech is worth protecting, even at the expense of some pirated movies and music.

A bill called SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) has been proposed in Washington, where it seems to be as popular as it is unpopular across the Net. The focus of SOPA is foreign websites that offer U.S. movies and music for easy access. Because they’re not on U.S. soil, the government hasn’t been able to stop them so far. SOPA changes that by giving broad powers to the Department of Justice to block access to potentially infringing sites.

Because foreign websites can’t be fought in the courts, SOPA works differently. Once the U.S. Attorney General has a court order against a site, Internet providers are compelled to stop linking to it or sending people to it. Also, search engines have to stop linking to it.

While the government can’t make foreign sites shut down, this bill would turn them virtually invisible.

Online piracy is certainly a problem, but the loud objections to SOPA come from the unusually broad powers that the bill gives the Department of Justice to blacklist sites. An entire site could be blocked if only one page is found to be infringing. Plus, the bill could be used to block sites that work the way that YouTube or WikiLeaks do.

The pro-SOPA forces include the Motion Picture Association of America, the Recording Industry Association of America, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Those opposed include Google, Facebook, eBay, Yahoo, AOL, LinkedIn, and many more.

Sadly, the bill has gained broad support in Congress. While hearings continue on it, and critics continue to try to soften its language, SOPA may eventually pass. The best thing for concerned surfers to do now is contact their congressional representatives and tell them they’re opposed to the bill.